'No.'
She said in her heart.
Yet….
And yet…
Those eyes.
They weren't looking at Elowyn Caerlin.
They were looking at something that shouldn't exist anymore.
Elara forced herself to move, to let the stiffness drain from her shoulders. The sphere had gone dark again. The instructors were distracted with notes and readouts, the crowd already murmuring about someone else's reaction.
Perfect.
She stepped back from the testing station, her pulse drumming a little too fast, and crossed the few meters separating them. Lucavion didn't shift his stance as she approached, but the moment she was close enough, he tilted his head slightly, studying her face.
"Your face doesn't look that good," he said, tone casual but eyes still too sharp. "That thing mess with you?"
Elara managed a breath that might've been a laugh if it hadn't scraped her throat on the way out. "It's a side effect," she said. "Nothing serious."
